Feathering paddle-wheel



UNXTED STATES PATENT ornicn.

BYRON DNSMORE, OF BROCKPORT, NEW YORK.

FEATHERING PADDLE-WHEEL.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, BYRON DENsMoRE, of Brockport, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Feathering Paddle- VVheels for Propelling Steamboats; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making part of this specification.

Figure l is an end view of the wheel showing all of its working parts; Fig. 2, a view of the back side of one of the buckets showing the manner of attaching the buckets to the arms.

The wheel is made by putting. two or more ianges, as the case may require, on-to the shaft in the usual manner with .as many arms in each iiange as there are buckets in the wheel, and rims are put on to the arms ruiming around the wheel in the usual manner and the Whole braced with lateral braces as the case may require. The only difference in the construction of the arms from the ordinary paddle wheel consists in making the point on the arm where the bucket is attached to it project out from the line of the arm as at B for the purpose of throwing the bucket out from the arm in order to give it room to change its position with reference to the arm.

The buckets are of the usual form and may be of wood or iron but the best bucket vfor this plan of wheel is made of a wrought iron plate such as boiler iron, of sufficient thickness to support brackets c, c, and the levers or arms f and if the bucket is of such length as to require to be supported between the arms it may be supported by bolting or riveting a plank on to the back side of it. Instead of connecting the buckets to the arms, by a hinge formed on the end of the bucket where it can have a support on but one side of the hinge, which is the usual mode of hanging feathering buckets I attach them to the arms by means of the brackets c, c, tting on to corresponding brackets on the arms as at B and a hinge connection. This method of making the bucket and attaching it to the arms enables me to use a much lighter bucket and lighter fastenings and feathering mechanism than could be used if the buckets were attached to` the arms in the usual manner; 'besides it makes a much stronger and easier operating wheel and the wearing parts are much easier replaced.

The position of the buckets is controlled by means of the eccentric wheel S which consists of a ange with asmany radiating arms set i-n it as there are buckets in the wheel, and a rim on their outer ends. These arms are considerably'shorter than the arms in the main-wheel and have a slot in them nearly their whole length. Hence they are most conveniently made of two separate bars placed some two or three inchesv apart forming this slot between them. The slides b, slide in these slots. Y

The eccentric wheel S may be put on to either side of thel main wheel or it may be put on both sides but that is not necessary. It is best that it shouldy be put on the, side next to the boat. The eccentricity of this wheel varies from ten to twenty inches according to the size of the wheel and the amount of pitch that is designed to give the buckets. through this wheel it necessarily has a large opening and if it runs on an eccentric that fills this opening in the usual way of working eccentrically the friction is great. To obviate this difficulty this wheel is made to revolve on the friction rollers g, g. These rollers have a groove cut down into their periphery into which the edge of the flange sets. The lower edge of the opening in this flange is made to just clear the underside of the shaft so that it cannot by any means be thrown up out of the grooves in the rollers. The lever or arm f is attached to the end of the bucket and extends from the bucket to the slide Z to which it is attached by a bolt that is made to turn in the slide and is tight in the arm. Then a bucket is on the under side of the wheel the slide attached to it is at the outer end of the slot in the arm as at 5. And when the bucket is at the top of the wheel the slide is at the inner end of the slot as at 4. And the slides vary in their positions in the slots according to their position on the wheel. The pressure on the bucket is balanced upon the hinges that con nect it to the arms so that there is but little pressure thrown on to the slide. Being thus attached the buckets on either side of the wheel horizontal to the center' pitch their outer edges downward, this pitch should be about forty five degrees down from the horizontal when the bucket is on a level With Hence if the wheel shaft runs the center of the main wheel. Then as the bucket moves downward its face becomes more and more perpendicular until it reaches the lower part of the wheel directly under the center. Then it stands perpendicular and then leaves the water at the same angle that it entered. In order to maintain a correct position of the bucket at all times it is necessary to secure a perfect unison of movement between the main wheel and p 'arms and the attachment to the buckets sliding on the arms substantially as and for the governing arms. To effect this Il have used two separate and distinct devices. One method is to connect the flange of the governing arms to the main wheel by the connecting rods m m m m. The length of these rods is just equal to the eccentricity of the governing arms. These rods turn on the bolts at each end and their position is always perpendicular. The other device which I have used in place of the connecting rods m, m, m, m, is to put cogs like fv, v, c, on to the yflange on the main wheel meshing into corresponding cogs on the inner side of the flange of the governing arms. These cogs instead of working in and out work in and pass right through and both wheels run in the same direction.

The slots in the governing arms may be dispensed with and the slides made to slide on a single rod.

The wheel may be overhung without bearing outside of it for its shaft and the governing arms hung on a stud pin on the guard outside of the wheel and the friction rollers g, g dispensed with.

What I claim as my invention and desire vto secure by Letters Patent is- 1. The eccentric wheel with its radiating the purposes described.

2. In combination with the above, the arrangement of the friction rollers with the eccentric wheel by which the wheel is supported substantially as and for the purposes described.

3. The connection of the buckets and paddle arms by the two series of brackets and hinges substantially as and for the urposes described used in a feathering pa dle wheel substantially as described.

BYRON DENSMORE.

Witnesses:

C. P. JOHNSON, JOHN ODELL. 

